Alan Pardew

[TRon]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

So you agree with his starting line up of 4 central defenders, one defensive winger and one forward?

[Guest neesy111]

I enjoyed the bit of the match where we attacked relentlessly, I'd like to see a bit more of that please.

[Wullie]

Problem with all this ?. This is how we approach nearly every game, not looking to concede, trying to nick a goal. We never attack from the off, never have sustained pressure and never ever look to bury teams when on top.

 

More predominantly in the league, we have looked slightly more positive in the Europa.

 

I agree but that's what made him perfect for tonight. Negative was the name of the game tonight, we won't play another game for a long time where one goal conceded is curtains.

[Wullie]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

So you agree with his starting line up of 4 central defenders, one defensive winger and one forward?

 

Yes, we needed to kill the first half and basically make it a complete waste of time for the neutral.

[Interpolic]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

We couldn't have attacked at all for the first 40 minutes, Wullie?  Really?  And we could only have pushed on like we did for the last 20?

 

Personally I wanted 0-0 at half time. Imo we needed to keep Benfica at arm's length and almost keep them happy. If we'd led 2-0 then, that's actually a worse scenario than 0-0. No way would we have withstood a barrage from them, and they only need one goal.

 

But we could have scored again ourselves.  I don't buy into this at all, mental things happen in the later stages of European competition and you need to buy into it and trust in the ability of your own players.  We could've beat Benfica 3-1/4-1/whatever tonight, these things happen in European competition at this stage when you have a few matchwinners in your side - it seems to me we placed all our eggs in one very small basket and are now saying that basket was the only basket.

[Guest bimpy474]

Problem with all this ?. This is how we approach nearly every game, not looking to concede, trying to nick a goal. We never attack from the off, never have sustained pressure and never ever look to bury teams when on top.

 

More predominantly in the league, we have looked slightly more positive in the Europa.

 

I agree but that's what made him perfect for tonight. Negative was the name of the game tonight, we won't play another game for a long time where one goal conceded is curtains.

 

Tonight i can see where people are coming from, i still think we could have been more positive without being reckless. Like i say though this whole approach is why we are struggling to stay up. It so negative and it comes from Pardew, the players back him which is good but i just can't see him turning into a positive, good football bringing manager.

[Wullie]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

We couldn't have attacked at all for the first 40 minutes, Wullie?  Really?  And we could only have pushed on like we did for the last 20?

 

Personally I wanted 0-0 at half time. Imo we needed to keep Benfica at arm's length and almost keep them happy. If we'd led 2-0 then, that's actually a worse scenario than 0-0. No way would we have withstood a barrage from them, and they only need one goal.

 

But we could have scored again ourselves.  I don't buy into this at all, mental things happen in the later stages of European competition and you need to buy into it and trust in the ability of your own players.  We could've beat Benfica 3-1/4-1/whatever tonight, these things happen in European competition at this stage when you have a few matchwinners in your side - it seems to me we placed all our eggs in one very small basket and are now saying that basket was the only basket.

 

3-1's still only extra time and that was the last thing we needed. I also didn't trust us to score 3 without further reply but I did have faith we could sneak a late one, we've been doing little else at home for months.

[TRon]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

 

Marveaux looked plenty fit to me - and Pardew really shouldn't give a toss about what this place would think about Shola starting tbh.

 

Pardew said post-match that Marveaux struggles with a lot of games in a short space of time, which is why he didn't start tonight.

 

Fine. But why replace him with an inexperienced defensive central midfielder? Do you think teams with no threat going forward are going to worry a team with a poor defence?

[Mick]

 

 

Personally I wanted 0-0 at half time. Imo we needed to keep Benfica at arm's length and almost keep them happy. If we'd led 2-0 then, that's actually a worse scenario than 0-0. No way would we have withstood a barrage from them, and they only need one goal.

 

Sorry but I don't agree, my take on it from what I watched is that so late in the game Sissoko was wrecked and he wouldn't have been as slow to react earlier if in the same position as he was when he let the Benfica player breeze past him.  We prodded them with a stick late in the game and they had nothing to lose at that point as they could come at us without having to worry about fatigue. 

 

We just didn't test them early enough and I don't see why we couldn't have withstood a barrage from them with players who were fresher earlier in the game.

[Wullie]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

 

Marveaux looked plenty fit to me - and Pardew really shouldn't give a toss about what this place would think about Shola starting tbh.

 

Pardew said post-match that Marveaux struggles with a lot of games in a short space of time, which is why he didn't start tonight.

 

Fine. But why replace him with an inexperienced defensive central midfielder? Do you think teams with no threat going forward are going to worry a team with a poor defence?

 

We didn't want to worry them in the first half ffs. Why poke the bear with a stick when you can get to the hour and try and shoot it instead?

 

What a shit analogy.

[Rich]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

 

Marveaux looked plenty fit to me - and Pardew really shouldn't give a toss about what this place would think about Shola starting tbh.

 

Pardew said post-match that Marveaux struggles with a lot of games in a short space of time, which is why he didn't start tonight.

 

Fine. But why replace him with an inexperienced defensive central midfielder? Do you think teams with no threat going forward are going to worry a team with a poor defence?

 

I was just explaining the reasoning behind Marveaux not starting, leave me alone

[Interpolic]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

 

Marveaux looked plenty fit to me - and Pardew really shouldn't give a toss about what this place would think about Shola starting tbh.

 

Pardew said post-match that Marveaux struggles with a lot of games in a short space of time, which is why he didn't start tonight.

 

Fine. But why replace him with an inexperienced defensive central midfielder? Do you think teams with no threat going forward are going to worry a team with a poor defence?

 

We didn't want to worry them in the first half ffs. Why poke the bear with a stick when you can get to the hour and try and shoot it instead?

 

What a shit analogy.

 

We clearly didn't have enough time to beat them, there was a lot of huff and puff and they looked a bit rattled but don't go on like we were unlucky.

[SLK]

If we had two Be Arfas and two Marveauxs then it would have made sense to bring the first pair on the first half and the 2nd pair in the 2nd half them we could have had a real go at Befica the whole game. Unfortunately we don't own cloning machine but I hope in the summer we buy at least one more Ben Arfa or Marveaux type of players which means we can make sure we have creativity the whole season.

[Interpolic]

If we had two Be Arfas and two Marveauxs then it would have made sense to bring the first pair on the first half and the 2nd pair in the 2nd half them we could have had a real go at Befica the whole game. Unfortunately we don't own cloning machine but I hope in the summer we buy at least one more Ben Arfa or Marveaux type of players which means we can make sure we have creativity the whole season.

 

Good fucking God, man.

[TRon]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

So you agree with his starting line up of 4 central defenders, one defensive winger and one forward?

 

Yes, we needed to kill the first half and basically make it a complete waste of time for the neutral.

 

Benfica really aren't that good. Yes they are better coached and have a far better football philosophy but for all their attacking intent they don't really punish teams and they don't defend well either. Personally I think we psyched ourselves out of this game from the first leg.

[Wullie]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

 

Marveaux looked plenty fit to me - and Pardew really shouldn't give a toss about what this place would think about Shola starting tbh.

 

Pardew said post-match that Marveaux struggles with a lot of games in a short space of time, which is why he didn't start tonight.

 

Fine. But why replace him with an inexperienced defensive central midfielder? Do you think teams with no threat going forward are going to worry a team with a poor defence?

 

We didn't want to worry them in the first half ffs. Why poke the bear with a stick when you can get to the hour and try and shoot it instead?

 

What a shit analogy.

 

We clearly didn't have enough time to beat them in that time, there was a lot of huff and puff and they looked a bit rattled but don't go on like we were unlucky.

 

I wouldn't say we were unlucky necessarily, they were really rattled for a good 15 minutes or so but we picked the wrong ball too often and made too many sloppy passes in good positions. I wasn't interested in being the better side tonight, only in getting through and I thought we gave ourselves the best chance of doing so by playing the way we did.

 

Scoring on 70 minutes was almost scripted, it fitted so perfectly. 2-0 up on 70 minutes with Benfica camped in our half, I'd have written us off, 1-0 up though with the onus on us, I really thought we would nick it late again and I bet so did everyone else. We needed to keep the ball in our court for as long as we could.

[Wullie]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

So you agree with his starting line up of 4 central defenders, one defensive winger and one forward?

 

Yes, we needed to kill the first half and basically make it a complete waste of time for the neutral.

 

Benfica really aren't that good. Yes they are better coached and have a far better football philosophy but for all their attacking intent they don't really punish teams and they don't defend well either. Personally I think we psyched ourselves out of this game from the first leg.

 

They didn't need to be "that good" though. They only needed to score. That made stopping them doing so early on a massive priority. A first half Benfica goal essentially ends the contest (and creates a complete damp squib of a stadium for an hour after everyone was so excited), unless you fancied our knackered players to not only get 3 but then go for another half hour with a derby on Sunday.

[Stu]

At home in front of 52000 passionate supporters, let fucking Benfica worry about us. Never mind lay off them for an hour. It is his cowardly and negative style that makes me want him to get the bullet.

 

 

would you have celebrated if it worked ?  did it come close to working?

 

Of course I would, but to restrict yourself to a third of the game to get in front doesn't make sense. It would if we were away but we were at home. The law of averages say we would have had more chance had we have been positive for 90 rather than 30.

 

Not to pick on you, Billy, but it makes perfect sense: Benfica are the best team left in the competition and in all likelihood we would be opening ourselves up for 90minutes if we attacked from the off - for 20minutes we can maybe ride our luck or rely on a few well timed blocks or saves. The smart tactic is to keep ourselves in it for as long as we can and then throw the kitchen sink at them. As Wullie so eloquently wrote earlier, the first goal was well-timed and we were so, so close to pulling it off.

 

Unfortunately, there are keyboard managers who want to watch 90minutes of highlights rather than a real match (not you, Billy) and they dominate the match threads and post-match threads with their frustrations.

[TRon]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

So you agree with his starting line up of 4 central defenders, one defensive winger and one forward?

 

Yes, we needed to kill the first half and basically make it a complete waste of time for the neutral.

 

Benfica really aren't that good. Yes they are better coached and have a far better football philosophy but for all their attacking intent they don't really punish teams and they don't defend well either. Personally I think we psyched ourselves out of this game from the first leg.

 

They didn't need to be "that good" though. They only needed to score. That made stopping them doing so early on a massive priority. A first half Benfica goal essentially ends the contest (and creates a complete damp squib of a stadium for an hour after everyone was so excited), unless you fancied our knackered players to not only get 3 but then go for another half hour with a derby on Sunday.

 

The team Pardew picked was unbalanced. By all means pick other players if you want to save your best for Sunday's derby. But at least pick a starting line up that gives the players some hope.

[Interpolic]

At home in front of 52000 passionate supporters, let fucking Benfica worry about us. Never mind lay off them for an hour. It is his cowardly and negative style that makes me want him to get the bullet.

 

 

would you have celebrated if it worked ?  did it come close to working?

 

Of course I would, but to restrict yourself to a third of the game to get in front doesn't make sense. It would if we were away but we were at home. The law of averages say we would have had more chance had we have been positive for 90 rather than 30.

 

Not to pick on you, Billy, but it makes perfect sense: Benfica are the best team left in the competition and in all likelihood we would be opening ourselves up for 90minutes if we attacked from the off - for 20minutes we can maybe ride our luck or rely on a few well timed blocks or saves. The smart tactic is to keep ourselves in it for as long as we can and then throw the kitchen sink at them. As Wullie so eloquently wrote earlier, the first goal was well-timed and we were so, so close to pulling it off.

 

Unfortunately, there are keyboard managers who want to watch 90minutes of highlights rather than a real match (not you, Billy) and they dominate the match threads and post-match threads with their frustrations.

 

Watched 70 minutes of bilge to add to the hundreds and thousands and minutes of bilge I've watched this season, a normal person would understand that frustation - however you're not a normal person, you're a very strange person who feels the need to feel superior to people at every opportunity.

 

The top and bottom of it is, right:

 

I am sick of the football being fucking shit for vast majority, I can't even be arsed to watch the games anymore.  It's dreadfully bad.  I see people giving every possible excuse for it every single game.  We're never going to play positively with the onus on attack with this guy in charge.  This isn't why I'm a football fan.  I'd rather lose while trying to win, than be an embarrassing anti-football side that tries to squeak as many points as possible.

 

The people that have been hoyed into this haters pot are just desperately sick of NUFC being one of the worst teams in the league to watch for a start, there's really no need for it.

[Skirge]

Looks close to tears

[Wisdom Body]

Just on the 'we couldn't do X/Y/Z because of the injuries' thing, whilst certainly a hindrance, what makes people believe it's going to be significantly different next season? Sure, we won't have the Europa but I think it's been forgotten that we were playing kids and reserves in that for quite some time anyway. Clubs and managers have to deal with injuries, poor form and suspensions all season, every season. NUFC and Pardew are no exception. Unless we are able to pinpoint things we've been doing wrong this season, I can't see why it's going to definitely be better next year.

 

I've mentioned it before, but I think it's really important to change the strength and conditioning staff to decrease injuries. This change has worked for other clubs and many successful managers have reliable S&C coaches they religiously take with them to every club.

 

 

I actually agree with Pardew when he blames the lack of results this season compared to the last on injuries. Pardew hasn't changed as a manager but key players like Coloccini, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Tioté, Saylor have either been injured or in poor physical shape for most of the season. These injuries have exposed the cracks in Pardew's rudimentary style of play that had previously been tidily papered-over by good form. I however would like a manager who transmits the required concepts during training to ensure a cohesive, constant and easily identifiable system of play regardless of the personnel on the pitch, and whose team's effectiveness isn't completely reliant on individual player form and therefore completely destroyed by a few key injuries. This is the only way to ensure consistent long-term success.

[Mick]

Unless our tactics were to draw 1-1 or avoid defeat, they failed, they weren't spot on.  If we had attacked from the first whistle we may have lost drawn or won, nobody knows.  We all know that what we have tried didn't work, much as they haven't many times before.  Shola coming on is another repeated failure and one that we didn't really need to make to know what would happen once he was introduced.  He's the only player I can remember who looked as if he was ready to come off within 5 or 10 minutes of coming on, the person next to me was asking for Shola to come off when Ben Arfa was getting ready to come on. 

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

Just on the 'we couldn't do X/Y/Z because of the injuries' thing, whilst certainly a hindrance, what makes people believe it's going to be significantly different next season? Sure, we won't have the Europa but I think it's been forgotten that we were playing kids and reserves in that for quite some time anyway. Clubs and managers have to deal with injuries, poor form and suspensions all season, every season. NUFC and Pardew are no exception. Unless we are able to pinpoint things we've been doing wrong this season, I can't see why it's going to definitely be better next year.

 

I've mentioned it before, but I think it's really important to change the strength and conditioning staff to decrease injuries. This change has worked for other clubs and many successful managers have reliable S&C coaches they religiously take with them to every club.

 

 

I actually agree with Pardew when he blames the lack of results this season compared to the last on injuries. Pardew hasn't changed as a manager but key players like Coloccini, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Tioté, Saylor have either been injured or in poor physical shape for most of the season. These injuries have exposed the cracks in Pardew's rudimentary style of play that had previously been tidily papered-over by good form. I however would like a manager who transmits the required concepts during training to ensure a cohesive, constant and easily identifiable system of play regardless of the personnel on the pitch, and whose team's effectiveness isn't completely reliant on individual player form and therefore completely destroyed by a few key injuries. This is the only way to ensure consistent long-term success.

 

Great post 

[Wullie]

Unless our tactics were to draw 1-1 or avoid defeat, they failed, they weren't spot on.  If we had attacked from the first whistle we may have lost drawn or won, nobody knows.  We all know that what we have tried didn't work, much as they haven't many times before.  Shola coming on is another repeated failure and one that we didn't really need to make to know what would happen once he was introduced.  He's the only player I can remember who looked as if he was ready to come off within 5 or 10 minutes of coming on, the person next to me was asking for Shola to come off when Ben Arfa was getting ready to come on. 

 

That's silly, you can get it right tactically and still fail. It's not exactly easy to win by a specific scoreline against a team that almost never lose.